Coal, sweets and bitter reality

Friday 27th February, 2026

Three teenage girls from a children’s home in Kalutara have been arrested for breaking into a canteen and making off with a stock of confectionery worth Rs. 40,000. Upon being informed of the theft, the police lost no time in recovering the sweets and making arrests. Those who conducted the ‘raid’ posed for photographs with the recovered items and released them to the media. Such is their selective efficiency.

One may recall that some years ago, the police arrested a small schoolgirl in Kalutara for stealing a few coconuts. In the same district, a little girl was taken into custody for stealing a five-rupee coin. If only the long arm of the law dealt with the politically backed perpetrators of serious crimes in a similar manner.

The three girls arrested for stealing sweets may have thought that in a country where people get away with grand thefts, their offence would go unnoticed. The incumbent government tells us that its political rivals stole colossal amounts of state funds while in power, but no legal action has been taken against most of them. Worse, the corrupt politicians in the Opposition have embarked on a crusade against corruption.

Worryingly, the incumbent government, which has undertaken to eliminate bribery and corruption and restore the rule of law, is led by a party with a history of terrorism, extortion, armed robberies and wanton destruction of state assets. A Cabinet minister has had the audacity to boast that he and his ‘comrades’ destroyed transformers, etc., in the late 1980s. He has sought to romanticise such acts of terrorism which are nonbailable transgressions under the Offences Against Public Property Act. Strangely, no action has been taken against him or his colleagues on the basis of his confession. If such crimes had been investigated properly during previous governments, some of the ruling party politicians who indulge in moral grandstanding would have been behind bars.

It has now been revealed that the procurement of eight shipments of substandard coal has caused a staggering loss of Rs. 8 billion to the state coffers. The coal supplier is said to be a company blacklisted for selling substandard rice to Sathosa. The corrupt coal tender has not been cancelled.

The present-day rulers, who came to power vowing to eliminate bribery and corruption, are now in overdrive, trying to justify losses caused by low-grade coal imports and shield the racketeers. Substandard medicines imported after the 2024 regime change have not only caused massive losses to the state but also snuffed out several lives in government hospitals. Much has been spoken in Parliament about corrupt procurement deals in Sathosa under the current dispensation. Curiously, no arrests have been made.

What was made out to be a new beginning in late 2024 has turned out to be another false dawn. The champions of good governance have been exposed for corruption and abuse of power.

The current rulers claim to be on a mission to restore the rule of law in keeping with one of their main campaign promises. That no doubt is a noble goal that must be achieved. However, mere rhetoric won’t do. They have to back up their words with deeds.

The least the government can do to convince the public that it is serious about fulfilling its pledge to restore the rule of law is to ensure that the police deal with the corrupt elements in both the Opposition and the government in the same way as they did in the case of the three girls who stole sweets in Kalutara.

from The Island https://ift.tt/NWpyksS